(Co) variance components and genetic parameters for growth traits in Arman sheep were estimated, using data collected during an 11-year period (1999-2010), by applying the restricted maximum likelihood (REML) procedure under univariate and bivariate animal models. The studied traits were body weight of lamb at birth (BW), body weight at 3 months of age as weaning weight (WW), body weight at 6 m...

Hypothesis: Genetic variation in plant defence structures a community of herbivores and ultimately mediates co-evolution. Organisms: Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and five natural insect herbivores (seed bug, leaf mining fly, monarch caterpillar and two beetles). Methods: Quantitative genetic field experiment over 2 years, genetic selection analyses, and measurement of five defensive trai...

Sexual selection theory models evolution of sexual signals and preferences using simple life histories. However, life-history models predict that males benefit from increasing sexual investment approaching old age, producing age-dependent sexual traits. Age-dependent traits require time and energy to grow, and will not fully mature before individuals enter mating competition. Early evolutionary...

soil and water salinity are amongst the severe and progressive problems worldwide which affects most cropland areas of iran. using endophytic microorganisms (which are amongst the most important soil microorganisms) to alleviate the detrimental effect of environmental stresses such as salinity is recently globally considered. in order to test the effects of azospirillum strains and fungus pirif...

Understanding how tropical rainforest trees may respond to the precipitation extremes predicted in future climate change scenarios is paramount for their conservation and management. Tree species clearly differ in drought susceptibility, suggesting that variable water transport strategies exist. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, we examined the hydraulic variability in trees in a lowland tro...

Growth efficiency-related traits are of economic importance for genetically improving of small ruminants especially in tropics with pastures of low quality and quantity. Data on body weights of Raeini Cashmere goat collected from 1979 to 2012 in Raeini breeding station, Kerman province, south-eastern part of Iran were used for estimating the genetic parameters of average daily gain from birth t...

Climate change is affecting thermal conditions worldwide. Understanding organismal responses associated with predicted changes are essential for predicting population persistence. Few studies have examined the effects of both increased mean and variance in temperature on organismal traits, particularly during early life stages. Using lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) from Black Lake, MI, we ...

Growth-related traits, such as greater height, greater biomass, faster growth rate and early flowering, are thought to enhance competitiveness of agricultural weeds. However, weedy rice, a conspecific weed of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.), displays variation for growth traits. In the United States, separately evolved weedy rice groups have been shown to share genomic identity with exotic do...

Background and Aims Trait-based plant ecology attempts to use small numbers of functional traits to predict plant ecological strategies. However, a major gap exists between our understanding of organ-level ecophysiological traits and our understanding of whole-plant fitness and environmental adaptation. In this gap lie whole-plant organizational traits, including those that describe how plant b...

Metabolomics is an emerging method to improve our understanding of how genetic diversity affects phenotypic variation in plants. Recent studies have demonstrated that genotype has a major influence on biochemical variation in several types of plant tissues, however, the association between metabolic variation and variation in morphological and physiological traits is largely unknown. Sorghum bi...